Sunday, April 08, 2007

MEMRI reported The reformist website Rooz reported on April 5, 2007 that the Friday prayer leader of Shiraz, a city in the heart of Iran, had called for more public punishments, as prescribed by "hodud," Islamic penal law.

It sounds like they are already doing public punishments. When he calls for more, does he want to mutilate the bodies of people other than thieves.

After a convicted thief’s hand was amputated in public in Kermanshah, Ayatollah Mohiyeddin Shirazi, an appointee of the supreme leader of Iran, criticized the halting of public punishments, and added, "Those who say that practices like amputating hands belong to the past are themselves part of the past."

That does not make any sense. Something that may have been acceptable in the seventh and eighth centuries may not be acceptable in the 21st century.

He also claimed that imprisonment had no effect "on educating criminals and reducing crime."

They can't steal while they are in prison.

At a meeting with judges from Fars province, Shirazi argued that public punishments are more effective that imprisonment: "Prison and imprisoning individuals do not have an effect on educating criminals and reducing crime. They also add to corruption." He also called for using criminals convicted for drug-related charges as forced labor. Kermanshah judiciary head Allahyar Malekshahi promised more amputations in the future and said that citizens had requested the public amputation.

Which citizens? I bet the thief did not like the idea. And if a person is so poor they must steal to eat, if you cut off their hands so they can't steal, will that suddenly fill their bellies?

According to Rooz, following the punishment Malekshahi told IRNA that the punishment had been approved by Iran’s Supreme Court. He added that if thieves "don’t want their hands cut off, they should stop stealing." Also, the Etemad daily quoted Kermanshah’s governor as saying that carrying out hodud in public "has a visible effect on controlling the crime rate."

It probably does. Burning arsonists alive would probably have an effect on the arson rate, or beating someone to death for beating someone else to death might help that crime rate as well, but does that mean that it is acceptable in 21st century standards.